No matter what happens in his football career, Jaxson Dart will always possess an All-American name. After years of a practically nonexistent recruiting process, a magical senior season in high school put his name at the forefront of the recruiting cycle, leading to multiple big-time offers. But where did Dart start, and is he on a path to the NFL Draft?
Jaxson Dart’s Improbable Rise to Recruiting Stardom
Jeff George. Emmitt Smith. Peyton Manning. Matt Barkley. Kyler Murray. Jaxson Dart. Each of these players won the Gatorade Football Player of the Year award as high school athletes.
So why didn’t Dart have a single Power Five offer until September of his senior season? Why didn’t he even appear in high school recruiting rankings until October?
The camp scene is very important for young athletes. Because Dart played baseball at a high level, he traveled for most of the year and missed out on many of the opportunities other young QBs got attending these camps.
When he finally found the time the summer before his senior season, COVID shut down the nation, and he had to let his play in September do the recruiting for him.
He ended up throwing for the most yards in high school football that season (4,691) and a state record for TDs (67). While doing so, he rushed for 1,195 yards and scored 12 more times on the ground.
So why did everything come together so late?
Well, Dart broke records at Corner Canyon, the new powerhouse prep school on the block in Utah. In 2018 and 2019, they had won state championships. That offense was wide-open. It attacked vertically and pulled safeties away from the box.
But before that, Dart attended Roy, a school that ran a more traditional offense that could win games but wouldn’t be the best canvas for Dart to leave his mark on Power Five coaches.
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Dart ended up skyrocketing up the recruiting ranks. He ended as a consensus four-star between the three main recruiting sites. ESPN ranked him as a top-20 recruit, while 247Sports and Rivals had him just outside of the top 100.
That led him to USC and eventually Ole Miss via the transfer portal.
